dinner soups : black carrot soup with walnuts and feta , making the most of the season

I absolutely believe in the theory of demand and supply. Although the market has now started manipulating the demand by creating a fake demand for marketing some cheap and faux foods, the faux foods are made desirable using the medium of advertising, sponsored research and peer reviewing.

In such a situation we as consumers have a bigger responsibility in ensuring the food and ingredients we get are real if not organically grown. We must start asking for foods and ingredients that we want and not fall for what is available, the market responds.

My experience is that when I started asking my neighborhood subziwalas to bring chane ka saag (chickpea shoots) they slowly started bringing and now I see many of them bring it more frequently. Likewise happened for many other greens, heirloom varieties of lime, cucumbers and many more native vegetables. Similar has happened to black carrots too and I am so glad to see them in abundance this year more than ever. That needs to be celebrated and I have been cooking with black carrots a lot this season.

And black carrots are cheaper than the last few years this time, almost half the price I must add. Good news.

And when I want to use a lot of one particular vegetable I normally soup it up. Imagine you consume about 300 gm black carrots in one meal. So much antioxidants and flavonoids in one meal and I do take care to supplement it with enough proteins and fats so the meal is balanced, nutrient absorption is taken care of.

ingredients 
(2 large, meal servings or 6 soup servings for a multi course meal)

500-600 gm black carrots cleaned and diced in irregular pieces
150 gm red shallots or baby onions quartered (use less or skip if you don't like their sweetness)
6-8 pods of garlic chopped roughly
few springs of marjoram or any herb you like (celery works or ad coriander greens)
2 tsp mustard or olive oil, I have been using more mustard oil lately
1 tbsp tahini or roasted sesame paste
2-3 tbsp thick cultured yogurt (whisked)
about 10 walnuts halves
some feta cheese, more the merrier
salt to taste
pepper to taste

procedure
 
Heat the oil in a pressure cooker pan or a deep pan and tip in the garlic, onion and diced black carrots. Add salt and pepper and toss and stir till it all looks glazed and slightly browned at the edges.

Add marjoram or whatever herbs you are using, toss a little and add about 100 ml water. Fix the lid and cook till the first whistle blows. Take off the heat and let the cooker cool. I normally do this in the morning when I cook my breakfast and lunch and leave the pressure cooker undisturbed till required for the dinner.

If coking in a stock pot you need a little more water, cook covered till softened.

Now blend the contents when the soup needs to be served. Transfer the contents of the cooker to a blender along with tahini, yogurt and a little water if required. Blend till smooth.

Transfer to the pot and simmer, adjust seasoning and serve topped with broken walnuts and chunks of feta cheese.

This has been a satisfying delicious soup this season. We normally didn't need any breads with it but you can serve some garlic bread with it and make the meal even more interesting.

We keep some broken walnuts and feta chunks on the side for this soup and keep adding as we go. It does add a lot of texture and flavor to this thick and creamy soup.

Do try soon and let me know if you like. The soup can be made with beet root too but I think the flavours may need some fine tuning as black carrots and beets have very different flavour profile. If you use half red carrots and half beets it might be a better idea.

I crave for my soup dinners when I am traveling trust me. Just back from a long trip to Hyderabad where I was attending the National Permaculture Convergence and even presented 2 sessions about 'health, nutrition and it's correlation with soil' and another on 'native and wild foods'. More on that later, enjoy black carrot soup with walnuts and feta till then.

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winter pickles from north India | pickled seasonal vegetables | pickled salads using mustard as pickling spice

Pickling is a culinary art that has developed all over the world picking up flavours of the region. I often wonder how man started pickling so many things and so beautifully but being a fermentation enthusiast I know where it all started.

Fresh produce was a luxury and whatever the people grew in one season would not be available in the next. All the surplus fresh produce was always preserved in some way or the other and we have witnessed how sun drying, smoking and pickling has solved food problem across the world. Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Umeboshi, Sakura and all sorts of brined pickles are a testimony of how pickles have been an integral part of life all over the world.

In India we have so many variants of pickles made using spices and without spices, with oil or without oil and every season has a different produce to be pickled. Some of these pickles are made in such a way that they last several years but since it is a common practice to make pickles every season they are made just enough to last one year. Unless it is a pickle that is considered medicinal in it's aged form.

One of the aged pickles very popular in my region is the nimbu ka achar (called as nibuki in local parlance) which is basically brined limes, whole or quartered. It is given to someone with upset stomach with a thin mung ki khichdi and some fresh homemade (cultured) yogurt.

I have shared some brined pickles like this amla and ginger pickled in brine. Another is this wild fig pickled in brine.

One of the variety of seasonal pickles is mustard fermented pickles, very popular in winters as the seasonal produce responds well to this method of pickling and traditional winter meals also pair well with these mustard fermented pickles. These pickles are also called as pani ka achar (watery pickle) in my part of the world for obvious reasons.

Yes, mustard helps fermentation along with red chilly powder (much like Korean Gochugaru) and we make kanji using the same method in a watery medium. For the seasonal vegetables to be pickled we don't add any water because the vegetables have enough water in themselves to let the flavours soak in.

Beautiful play of osmotic pressure in these pickles that is utilised for culinary use since ages.

The mix of mustard, red chillies, turmeric powder and salt is immensely medicinal as well. Mustard is known to improve metabolic rate and as an anti inflammatory agent, it improves blood circulation and is antiseptic too. Turmeric is another antiseptic herb that is antioxidant rich, anti inflammatory, analgesic and antiseptic. Red chillies are known as powerful analgesic and anti inflammatory because the capsaicin improves blood circulation, helping the body to heal naturally. 

With so much goodness these pickles are indeed quite healthy. To add to the health quotient of these pickles the fermentation process makes them probiotic too. What an easy way to get wholesome nutrition and healing benefits from homely pickles.

The good thing is that you can use almost every vegetable to make these pickles. Traditionally the gourd family vegetables are not pickled but once you get the hang of it you might want to try those too. These pickles are made during winters mostly, probably because they aid in digestion and help the gut health too. Traditionally winters means heavier foods and increased consumption of ghee and fried food that tastes really great with these pickles I must add. The traditions develop for a reason of course.

The vegetables that are used for this kind of pickling are mostly root vegetables, ginger, fresh turmeric, some beans specially the flat variety, cauliflowers, some leafy greens like chickpea shoots and even fresh green peas or soaked chickpeas.

This mustard fermented pickle is made in the north India. The vegetables being pickled may differ in different regions. Gajar-Gobhi ka achar (pickled carrots and cauliflowers) and mooli ka achar is staple in Punjab while hari mirch ka achar (pickled green chillies) is from Rajasthan. In Uttar Pradesh we pickle a lot of vegetables this way.

Many families will add some soaked chickpeas to the jar of pickles when it is just about to finish to make it last longer. I like adding some fresh peas too.

How to make the winter vegetable pickles with mustard...

While the pickling spices remain the same in these pickles that is mustard, turmeric, chilli powder and salt, the procedure differs with different vegetables as some of the vegetables have higher water content some are dry. Also because some of the vegetables we like crunchy and some others are preferred a bit softer. I have listed the recipes of some of the pickles I have been making.

Amla Haldi Adrak ka achar (amla, fresh turmeric root and ginger root pickle)...

ingredients 
(to fill 2 jars measuring 500 ml)

12 amla cut into wedges
12 large sized green chillies, preferably mild hot (bhajiya mirchi works in India, try Jalapeno or Anaheim or Banana peppers whatever available in your part of the world)
about 150 gms of ginger root cleaned and sliced
about 150 gms of fresh turmeric root cleaned and sliced
3 tbsp mustard powder (yellow or black)
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
salt to taste or about 1 tbsp

procedure 

Slice and chop everything as desired and mix with all the ingredients in a glass bowl. Give a good toss and fill in clean jars.

This pickle is ready to eat in about 3 hours and keeps changing in taste for 2-3 days. In Indian summers we keep it only for 2 days at room temperature and then refrigerate. The pickle keeps maturing slowly and get sharper in taste by time.

If refrigerated it lasts about 4 weeks.

Sem aur hari matar ka achar (flat beans and fresh green peas pickle) ...

Not many people make pickle using flat beans but it tastes really good. I like it with green peas and sometimes with added cauliflowers and broccoli etc.

The reason for pairing these vegetables together is because these vegetables need a parboiling treatment unlike the root vegetables or amla or green chilies etc.

ingredients 
(to make a jar full, measuring 1 liter)

500 gm flat beans or mixed vegetables
200 gm green peas or soaked chickpeas
4 tbsp mustard powder (yellow or black)
1.5 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp red chilly powder
1.5 tbsp salt or to taste

procedure 

Prepare the vegetables first. Beans, cauliflowers or broccoli need a little blanching or parboiling depending on what texture you like.

String the flat beans and split them open. Cut them in pieces if you wish. Using tender beans is desirable.

If using cauliflowers or broccoli, separate the florets.

Boil water in a large pan and dunk everything together. Add the peas too along with everything else and wait till the water comes to a rolling boil once again. Drain the water in a colander and empty the vegetables into a mixing bowl.

Add the spice mix and toss. Fill in clean jars. The pickle will be ready after 12-15 hours and will stay good for 2 days at room temperature and should be refrigerated after that. Make small quantity if you want to keep the jars on the dining table.

carrots, knol khol or radish pickle in mustard ...

These vegetables can be pickled together like a mixed pickle or can be pickled separately as I do. I want the vegetables to maintain their own flavours and I love them this way as a salad in generous helping.

See how I eat the knol khol pickle with my meals. You can see laal chowli and rocket stew, black sorghum roti and loads of pickled salad on my plate.

The radish pickle has been shared earlier. I like to toss this pickle into my sprouts or boiled chickpeas salads as shown here.

This radish pickle is in fact a great way to use up any mature radishes. The mature radishes soak up the flavours faster and give a good bite to the pickle.

You can make the radish pickle using any kind of radish available.

I often use mixed carrots to make the carrot version of this pickle and have experienced that the mature and large carrots taste better in this pickle.

Here I have used black carrots that are normally used for making kanji along with the red carrots that are normally used for making gajar ka halwa.

ingredients for making carrot, knol khol or radish pickle in mustard...

500 gm of any of these vegetables cut in batons or cubes
2-3 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder (a little more for carrots)
1 tbsp salt

procedure

Mix everything up and fill in clean jars. These vegetables soak up the flavours faster and get ready to eat in 2-3 hours. You can wait for 2 days to get the sour flavour and then refrigerate for 3-4 weeks.

We even pickle boiled potatoes this way but the pickled (boiled) potatoes do not stay for long. Once made the pickle is ready to eat instantly and can be kept on the dining table (room temperature) for 2 days in winters and for a day in summers.

Luckily I found this boiled potato and chickpea shoots pickled with mustard. In my family the chickpea shoots (chane ka saag) was not pickled but once I was talking to Arvind's aunt and she told me they pickle chane ka saag this way. So next time I found some chane ka saag I wanted to try this.

The chane ke saag ka achar was so good I started combining it with the boiled potato version. It gets over quickly whenever I make it.

I would suggest to make this version just enough for a day's worth.

Chane ke saag aur alu ka achar (chickpea greens and boiled potatoes pickled with mustard)...

ingredients 

250 gm boiled, peeled and cubed potatoes
100 gm washed, drained and finely chopped chickpea greens (chane ka saag) or use baby spinach
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
chilly powder to taste or minced green chillies (I used green)
salt to taste

procedure

Toss everything together and mix well. Keep covered for an hour before serving.

This is actually a wonderful potato salad that I love making whenever I get hold of chane ka saag.

Actually I call all these mustard based pickles as pickled salads as these can be served just like the salads or kachumbers we serve with Indian meals. I make more pickled salads if you want to check out. 

If mixed with some sprouts or boiled chickpeas or even some paneer, these salads can become a salad meal. See how I mix them up to make my meals here.

These salads are generally called as pani ka achar in Uttar Pradesh as I mentioned. The reason being there is no oil used in this pickle while other Indian pickles use oil to preserve the pickle for long.

You see you can pickle almost everything and have a great value out of your pickling efforts. These pickles are easy and cheap, provide great nourishment and also help heal the body, especially the gut. More reasons to make them as soon as possible.

Do let me know whenever you make them.

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kachri (Cucumis callosus), the wild melon that packs antioxidants and boosts immunity : kachri ki chutney recipe

There are very few foraged foods that find their way into the urban markets sometimes and one of those is Kachri or Kaachri (Cucumis callosus or Cucumis melo sp agrestis) that looks like miniature watermelons. The similarity to watermelons ends here and once you cut these tiny melons you see numerous seeds and very little flesh inside. The seeds impart excellent protein content to this melon along with potent antioxidants and immunity boosting properties. See this study to know more.

Kachri is definitely a super food that can be found growing wild even on Delhi roadsides sometimes, but getting it from where it grows in the jungles and around the agricultural fields on it's own is a better option. Kachri vines are hardy and once planted the plant grows by self seeding every year.

The size of this kachri fruit varies so much that it can easily be named as a Chameleon melon too, the colour of the skin can vary from green, grey. brown. whitish to all the shades in between. The size also can vary so much that once can sometimes get confused about the identity. You would know it if you have tasted it, the aromatic tart flavour is so unique to this melon.

I buy a big batch whenever I spot kachri in the market and love cooking stir fries with them or make chutney. If you are traveling to Rajasthan and you happen to walk around any of the local markets you would see thick slices of kachri being sold in almost every spice and grocery shop.

Kachri powder is a great meat tenderiser too and is used generously in Rajasthan. The sun dried kachri slices are mostly used to make chutney along with loads of chillies, garlic and may be some herbs and seeds of the season.

The chutney I made a couple of months ago was so good we ended up using it with almost every meal. That simpler kachri ki chutney can be seen served with this Kachhe kele ke kabab here.

The brownish kachri ki chutney is made with just about a dozen fresh kachri sliced, about a dozen hot dry red chillies and 2 dozen fat garlic pods along with some salt. The chutney is so good it become addictive even though it is quite hot. But the balance of tangy, hot and pungent is the unique property of this chutney. 

I even use this chutney to make a quick stir fry with guwar (cluster beans) beans. This recipe of guwar beans is a variation of the guwar (guar) peanut subzi that we love, another variation of guwar and kachri is shared by Deepika on my Instagram page.

To make the kachri guwar stir fry, steam the guwar beans lightly, then stir fry lightly with mustard oil and hing (asafoetida) tempering for a couple of minutes. Add a generous dollop of the kachri ki chutney and cook for a couple more minutes. Your delicious stir fry is ready to eat. The same procedure can be used to make stir fry with okra and bitter gourds too. 

Another delicious chutney with sun dried kachri is made along with coriander greens, mint, green chillies and some sesame seeds. Recently we were at the Tijara Organic Farms at Alwar (Rajasthan) for work and this chutney was served with almost every meal. We loved it so much I brought some sun dried kachri with me.

To make the chutney with sun dried kachri follow the recipe below. The recipe is by Sneh Yadav, the owner of the Tijara Organic Farm.

ingredients 
(to make a 500 ml jar full)

1 cup of sun dried kachri
2 cups of fresh chopped coriander greens
1/2 cup of mint leaves
2 dozen green chillies or as per taste
2 dozen fat garlic cloves peeled or just rinsed well
1/4 cup sesame and flax seeds mix
salt to taste

procedure 

Blend everything in the blender till a smooth paste is formed.

Add a little water or buttermilk if required. Empty the chutney into a clean (sterile) glass jar and serve as desired. The chutney keeps well for a day at room temperature and for a week or longer if refrigerated.

This chutney has all the ingredients that make it a super food. Those who want to supplement iron and calcium in their diet can add some more sesame and may be a few springs of curry leaves too.

This kachri chutney also helps lower cholesterol, boost immunity and gut health (the phytochemical analysis proves here). The seeds of the kachri as well as the flax and sesame used in the chutney make it a fairly high protein food too, so if you are using this chutney as a dip like hummus be assured you are eating a lot better for health.

The kachri chutney made this way is quite versatile as well. Spread it on toasted bread along with some salad greens and make an instant healthy sandwich or just spread on a multi grain gluten free roti and see how you love a quick meal.

This kachri chutney is like a good pesto. I like pesto on my multi grain rotis a lot. See how I eat boiled eggs wrapped in pesto smeared roti here on my Instagram post.

With crackers this chutney makes a great snack or starter. Or top it over bruschetta along with some fresh crunchy raw salad.  This kachri ki chutney wouldn't disappoint you any which way.

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fruit juice Rasgulla and fruit cocktail Rasgulla | Indian desserts made healthy | no added sugar Rasgulla recipe

Rasgulla or Roshogolla is a cottage cheese dumpling soaked in light sugar syrup. It is one of the healthiest Indian desserts and the good thing with this dessert is that the spongy spherical balls of cottage cheese can be squeezed to remove most of the sugar from it and it becomes a low sugar dessert. I have never seen anyone who doesn't like Rasgulla, some people like it lightly sweetened and some like it in thick sugar syrup, I prefer fruity flavour in Rasgulla.

The making of Rasgulla is a little tricky but very simple once you understand how it works. Freshly made cottage cheese is blended very smooth till it becomes cohesive and makes smooth balls when rolled in one's palms. These smooth cottage cheese balls are then poached in a very light sugar syrup till they fluff up and get almost tripled in size. Normally these Rasgullas are served chilled along with some of the poaching syrup without any other flavouring added. But some add a hint of Cardamom or Saffron to the syrup to make it mildly flavoured.

The most favourite way that I like Rasgulla is either the Orange juice rasgulla or on Pomegranate juice. This Anar (pomegranate) Rasgulla makes everyone happy.

The fruity version called Komola bhog or Orange Rasgulla is also made by commercial sweet makers but that is mostly a synthetically flavoured version, although I have made and shared a naturally Orange flavoured Rasgulla earlier. I keep making Rasgullas with fruit flavours and in a few more ways and have always got very good feedback from whoever eats them. One of the most stunning recipe is this fruit cocktail Rasgulla that makes a very nice healthy dessert for family get-togethers.

One thing to note when making Rasgulla with fruit juices is that the Rasgulla which is basically spongy cheese balls, take on the colour of the fruit juice and most fruit juices are a mix of different types of plant pigments. So the colour the Rasgulla soaks may not be the same colour of the juice. It works like Chromatography, only specific coloured pigments are absorbed by different proteins and starches, so don't be bothered if your Rasgulla in pomegranate juice looks brown after an hour of soaking in it. It is perfectly fine. Make a point to use the fruit juice rasgullas within a couple of hours of making and keep them chilled.

Now let's see what is the procedure.

The detailed procedure of making paneer is here, the loose version of the same cheese is called Chhena which is basically cottage cheese. I have shared a basic rasgulla recipe here and have discussed in detail how to make chhenna (cottage cheese) for rasgulla.

To repeat, I must say the raw (I use pasteurized) milk is heated till 90 degree C, then lime juice is added slowly till you see curdled milk solids and clear whey. Strain the cottage cheese, rinse it under cold water, squeeze it and then knead to make a smooth dough. Then make small balls for rasgulla, keeping in mind they double in size and get even bigger depending on milk and cheese quality.

Now make a weak sugar syrup (50-100 gm sugar on 700 ml water) or plain water (as I do), sufficient enough to let the Rasgullas poach freely, boil it in a pressure cooker or a deep pan or stock pot, tip in all the Rasgulla balls one by one and simmer them till you see them doubled.

I generally cover the cooker with lid and pressure cook them shortly (till the first whistle) to ensure the Rasgullas fluff up to maximum.

You can see the Rasgullas have become big and the poaching liquid gets cloudy. This is because of the Casein (milk protein) which leaks into the poaching liquid. If the poaching liquid has enough sugar for your liking you can chill it along with it, else add some sugar or date syrup or even honey and dissolve, then chill to serve as desired.

But if you are like me, you would squeeze the ready Rasgullas lightly and dunk them directly in fruit juice of your choice.

Like in this fruit cocktail Rasgulla I used pomegranate juice infused with a little Thai basil and some cut fruits. The result was spectacular and very mildly sweet that we love. You can add additional sweetener of your choice at any point after this.

For this Anar Rasgulla I sometimes use plum juice along with pomegranate arils to make it look ruby red. This one had wooed many people trust me.

The fruit cocktail gets mixed reviews because some people do not like one of the fruits or some people get suspicious of the Rasgulla getting a tad bit darker when served. Kids get a lesson on Chromatography if they are in doubt.

Wouldn't it be a good way to teach them some science? And about natural plant pigments and how they behave, how beneficial they are for our body as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents too.

One can always replace cakes when a dessert like this is served for birthdays. Both of us hate the sickening dressed up birthday cakes and will grab any opportunity to make such display of desserts replace birthday cakes.

I know many people, mostly adults who love this idea of birthday special desserts. We can always make our kids learn better and condition them from the beginning. Or one can always have a conventional cake and then a few of these healthy desserts too. At least they start appreciating what is eventually good for them.

Kids make good choices if we provide them with options. If they grow up eating fondant covered neon coloured cakes they would never know there are better options.

Brings the best options home. Let you body and mind have the best of treats for celebrations as well as everyday treats.

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home made cultured ghee and health benefits of ghee | what Ayurveda and modern research say about ghee

Ghee is pure butter fat, also called as butter oil because it is made after clarifying butter. Ghee comes from milk fat (dairy) and can be of 2 types, one is uncultured ghee which is made by skimming all fat from whole milk and clarifying the fat directly to make ghee, but in most Indian homes you will find the cultured ghee.

Cultured ghee is made by skimming all the cream from whole milk, culturing the collected cream with yogurt culture (just like setting yogurt) and when the cream gets sour (cultured sour cream) it is whipped to separate the milk fat which is actually cultured butter. When this cultured butter is clarified by heating, it becomes cultured ghee with the most delicious aroma and taste..

We love our homemade ghee and would do anything to ensure we get good quality ghee if we can't make it at home. Mothers and grandmothers make ghee and collect to gift it to their kids who live away from them, to ensure they eat well and stay healthy. It has become a part of our culture to shower love by adding a spoonful of ghee in the curry or daal on the table. A pot of melted ghee on the dining table is a must have condiment or supplement during family dining.

It is notable that ghee is a good mix of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and the smoking point is 485F (251C), it indicates ghee is the best suited fat for cooking at high temperature and it has stable saturated bonds.

It is not a surprise that this wisdom and culture around ghee goes back to Ayurveda. Ghee is considered cleansing, toning and nourishing for the system. There is a lot of modern evidence to support the truth behind the super food qualities of ghee.

Ghee contains Butyric acid, named so because it was first discovered in butter, Butyric acid helps maintain a healthy intestinal microbiome, it is actually secreted by many probiotic bacteria in the gut if the person has a healthy intestinal microbiome. This is one of the reasons why probiotic bacteria are considered essential for overall health. 

Butyric acid is also found in good amounts in butter and Parmesan cheese, it helps in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and helps in colorectal cancer.

Butyric acid is known to lower blood cholesterol as well as triglycerides, that indicates it is a potent anti inflammatory agent (read more here). Ghee (and butter too) is definitely a heart healthy fat. There is a reason why ghee and butter eating communities stay healthy.

It is difficult to find good sources of ghee now a days so making it at home is the next best thing.

The resultant ghee stays solid in Indian winters and starts melting as summer approaches, going through different stages of solid-liquid state, some globules of solid fat always found floating even in summers. Daanedar ghee (ghee with some solid fat globules) is a good test of pure ghee.

How to make ghee at home...

There are 2-3 ways to make ghee at home. 

1. You can buy cultured white butter from any organic source and melt it to clarify and make ghee. Strain the ghee to separate the solids before storage.
2. You can buy heavy dairy cream, add yogurt culture to it and let it get sour by keeping it at room temperature for about 4-8 hours. Then churn or whip to separate the fat that makes the cultured butter. This cultured butter can be melted and clarified to make ghee.
3. The third method is the way most of us Indian make our ghee. The whole milk is scalded and then cooled (in refrigerator). A layer of malai (clotted cream) gets formed when we rest the scalded milk overnight, this cream is collected and yogurt culture is added to it. One can collect the clotted cream for 3-4 days and then add the cultured yogurt so a good amount of butter can be made. The cultured sour cream is then churned to separate the butter which is then clarified. I am listing the detailed steps of this process.

The cream is cultured (which we call dahi jamana) till it gets slightly sour and smells wonderfully of rich yogurt. Then the yogurt is churned using a hand blender or in a food processor. Chilled water is added to the sour cream (malai ki dahi) to churn so the butter floats when separated.

Step 1 in the collage below shows how the white butter separates from the liquid buttermilk after the churning process. The true buttermilk comes from this process, we call this cultured buttermilk as mattha or kachhi lassi (lassi without fat). 

Step 2 shows the white butter which has been spooned out directly into a stainless steel pan (kadhai), some of the liquid buttermilk separated even after skimming the butter. It can be drained before clarifying the butter. 

Step 3 shows how the white cultured butter starts melting when we heat the pan. 

Step 4 we already see the butter getting clarified after heating. 

This process of clarifying is very crucial for those who are lactose intolerant. The ghee should be cooked till all the solids get nicely browned and settle down. Stirring the mix a few times helps clump the brown solids together and settle down. You can see in the step 4 that there is a white layer on top of the bubbling ghee that is actually whey protein. The other protein called casein settles down from beginning and later when we cook the ghee further to clarify, even the whey protein settles down and browns. All this browned solid should be removed completely by straining if the ghee is being made for a lactose intolerant person. 

Rest of us can enjoy the brown solids by mixing it with sugar and nuts or any other delicious use. I often add it to my daals or rajma.

The clarified butter gets a golden hue once cooked well. Straining it well and storing in either glass jars or stainless steel jars ensures the ghee stays good for long time.

The ghee starts getting solid after 2-3 days of making it.

Most of the times I save some of the white butter to have it with our millet rotis and the buttermilk is enjoyed fresh. If the cultured cream gets too sour we use this buttermilk to make kadhi. Many families have a tradition to make kadhi whenever butter is churned and ghee is made.

Milk and milk products play a major art in our everyday food in India. Although now many people have started reporting being intolerant to milk, but they still can consume ghee safely.

Immense benefits of ghee suggest we must include it for our everyday meals. Those who don;t consume ghee everyday should try and maintain a healthy gut flora. Infact the countries where ghee is not a traditional cooking fat the populations depend on butter and probiotic foods to maintain healthy gut. Butter has most of the benefits that ghee has but contains lactose and other proteins that may cause health problems to 'some'. See how someone experienced that clarified butter is good for her lactose intolerant kid.

I asked Dr. Sangita Borgave from Pune about ghee and she enlightened with many more wonderful qualities of ghee as described in Ayurvedic texts.

Dr. Borgave says Ghee is a highly revered food article in Ayurveda which has many interesting properties. The most superior type of ghee is cow’s ghee but one can find descriptions of ghee made from the milk of many animals like , buffalo, sheep, camel, horse etc.

Qualities of ghee according to Ayurveda 

1. Rasayana: This term means nourishing all the tissues in the body. In Ayurveda after detoxifying the body with Panchakarma, Rasayana  formulations are given to nourish all the tissues and cells in the body.
2. Madhur: Ghee is sweet in taste. There are six types of taste in the body and Madhur or sweet is the first of these.
3. Dipana: Ghee is one of the best natural digestives and appetite stimulants. The concept of Agni is very important in Ayurveda as this science believes that a weak Agni is the cause of all diseases. Ghee strengthens the Agni, improves digestion and appetite and therefore helps nutrients to reach the tissues.
4. Chakshushya: Ghee is beneficial to the eyes. It strengthens the eyes and eyesight. It is used to treat various eye problems. ( SK: I remember my grandmother making kaajal using ghee).
5. Sheeta: Despite increasing Agni, ghee is cooling in nature. Most herbs which improve the Agni and digestion are hot but ghee is an exception.
6. Decreases Vata and Pitta: Of the three Doshas or elements in the body i.e. fire, wind and water, ghee helps control and decrease the former two. So those who suffer from excess body heat should always use ghee in their diet.
7. Beneficial to the complexion/Enhances beauty: Consuming ghee regularly leads to a healthy glowing complexion.
8. Ojaskara: Oja is an important but complicated concept in Ayurveda. Basically Oja is a substance found in very minute quantities in the body. It contains the best qualities of all the seven tissues of the body. Depletion of Oja leads to several mental and physical diseases and is difficult to treat. Ghee directly nourishes Oja and so should be a part of daily diet.
9. Benefits the voice/speech: Ghee helps build a strong and clear voice. Ayurveda uses ghee to treat many speech disorders.
10. Smritikar/Medhya: Improving memory/increasing intelligence.  Ghee is a very good natural  brain tonic. It should be eaten regularly by children, people in intellectual professions and old people.
11. Aayushyakara: Ghee actually increases the life span. Many studies have clearly shown that consumption of healthy fats like ghee increase the life span, promote longevity.
12. Strengthening: Helps in generalized weakness and general debility post illness.
13. Vrushya: Improving fertility and libido. Ghee is said to be similar in consistency to Shukra or semen. So all Ayurvedic treatments of male infertility, and such problems will include ghee. Ghee also helps women conceive and have a healthy pregnancy and smooth delivery.

Medicated ghees are used to treat a vast number of diseases in Ayurveda but as one can see even simple, plain cow’s ghee is useful in innumerable number of ways. 

Ghee should be a part of everyday meals as it has always been in our homes, else we will be forced to take it as a supplement. Yes ghee is so healing and nourishing it helps prevent many diseases if we take it everyday. 

Thankfully ghee suits everyone including the lactose intolerant if clarified well. Make some ghee yourself using either cultured heavy cream or home made cultured butter. 

   

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jaggery coated almonds | easy to make natural unprocessed snack

Caramel coated and chocolate coated nuts you must have eaten a lot and must have exchanged as gifts too. Jaggery coated almonds are a better way to consume sweetened nuts without the emulsifiers and preservatives in the industrially produced coated nuts.

Come winter and North India starts stocking up nuts although it is much more sensible to keep eating nuts throughout the year. But there is a tradition of making panjeeris and laddus using an assortment of nuts in all North Indian families, some spices and edible gum etc is added to prepare oneself for the colder climes that we pretend to enjoy a lot.

In fact our winters are just a respite from the dreaded sultry summer that seems to drain all energy from us. Mangoes are the only solace. And then we enjoy our winters with rich foods of all sorts.

I made these jaggery coated almonds for another reason. I added a few spices to the jaggery syrup to help my frequent headaches and I am glad it is proving good. Long back a friend of mine had suggested a panjeeri made of almonds, poppy seeds and pepper corns when she came to know about my migraine. I remember I was breastfeeding Mithi during that time and used to be hungry all the time. I just started taking a few raw almonds, a spoonful of poppy seeds and a few peppercorns and chewing them all together for a while. Making a panjeeri felt too much work but when this mix helped my migraine I started stocking up this panjeeri and religiously had a spoonful everyday with milk.

But then life kept throwing other challenges and I forgot doing all of that, so much so that I couldn't even remember this magical almond panjeeri that had helped me some 15 years ago. Recently I asked friends on my facebook wall about migraine cures and one of those suggestions was about a panjeeri. It took me back in time and brought back my old panjeeri recipe.

I add a bit of nutmeg too to the panjeeri whose recipe is simple. Raw almonds, poppy seeds, black peppercorns and nutmeg are powdered together in mixie and kept in airtight jars. I make about 200 gm at a time and keep refreshing the stock as it takes just about 5 minutes to make it. If you want the recipe of this panjeeri you can ask in comments, I will update the exact recipe here.

This time when I made these jaggery coated almonds I thought of using some of the pajeeri ingredients so this snack helps me with the bigger issue too. The good news is that it has been working fine. But this snack is for everyone and can be made without these spices too.

ingredients 
(enough to last a month for a family of 2 if they eat sensibly)

250 gm raw almonds
150 gm jaggery
50 gm poppy seeds
5 gm (2 level tsp) ginger powder, you can add more
dash or nutmeg powder
dash of clove powder
pinch of salt

procedure 

Dry roast the almonds on very low heat for about 10 minutes. Cool.
You can roast for longer if you like very crunchy roasted almonds.

Chop the jaggery using a sturdy knife. I use my cleaver for this sweet job :-)

Transfer the chopped jaggery to a deep pan (kadhai) and add just 2 tbsp water to wet the jaggery so it starts melting.

Now place the pan over stove and start stirring it once in a while. The jaggery melts and starts simmering. After about 5 minutes the jaggery mix will start bubbling and then frothing.
The syrup is ready.
To test the readiness of syrup you can drop a small droplet in chilled water and check it. The droplet should get solid immediately. Take off the stove.

Now add all the spices and poppy seeds in the jaggery and mix vigorously. Add the almonds too and stir to coat them all. Keep stirring till the mix looks dry and all almonds are coated. It takes just a couple of minutes.

You may get some loose dry jaggery mix at the bottom of the pan but that is okay. It will be like a spiced sugar you can add to your cereal.

This is an addictive snack trust me. Be warned and be prepared for people stealing it from the jar. Keep it safe if you don't want kids getting loosies after eating too much almonds and adults refusing to have dinner after handfuls of jaggery coated almonds for evening snack.

Ration it. All good things are rationed in life. Jaggery coated almonds are precious.

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egg scramble with garlic chives and sorghum flour pita bread recipe | desi super foods for everyday

A simple regular egg scramble takes about 5 minutes to make and a millet based pita bread can take another 10-15 minutes depending on your roti making skill. Blending pomelo segments to make a smoothie-juice takes another 5 minutes, including cleaning your blender. In about 20 minutes a super food breakfast can be whipped up and this platter of egg scramble with loads of chives and rucola, sorghum pita bread and pomelo (grapefruit) smoothie was our weekend late breakfast last week.

Wondering why I am talking about super foods so often these days?

I know you have questioned the relevance of super foods and have wondered about what foods are super foods and which ones are 'just regular food'. High time we analysed our 'just regular foods' and took a hard look on super foods. Don't you think we need the so called super foods more because we have fallen for junk foods? The more we eat junk foods the more we feel like compensating with some super power..err..super foods.

And lo and behold, the same markets that trapped us into the 'junk food' addiction, are shoving super foods down our throats. And we end up eating the extra large sized junk burgers, gripped by guilt later we buy a pack of some newly introduced (to our part of the world) berries and seeds and try and undo the burger guilt. Oh and we overlook everything else that might have been on our table in a normal way. The 'just regular food' that may be equivalent to the newly crowned super food is often ignored as there are stronger market forces pushing us towards a certain new product.

But the good thing is, we can decide better.

It will help to know that using herbs and some spices can boost up the super food quotient of any 'just regular meal' by several notches.

Here are a few ways you can make a regular meal antioxidant rich, and get it qualify as super food.

• a pinch of clove powder has enough antioxidants as a handful of berries. Add it to your regular banana smoothie if you don't have blueberries. See this to believe.
• adding some basil or tulsi leaves to the smoothie or salad would be even better than blueberries. 
• a generous dash of black pepper would help absorb nutrients better and make a regular bowl of vegetable or fruit salad much more nutrition efficient.
• amla or Indian gooseberry blended with ginger and curry leaves in a glass of buttermilk is packed with super foods of different categories. 
• Think of turmeric, ginger, fenugreek, regular curry powder and even green chutneys and how these have been making Indian meals healthier for centuries. 
• some very easily available leaves like curry leaves, drumstick leaves, purslane, sweet potato leaves, beet leaves and even turnip and radish leaves are full of antioxidants and minerals that one finds in expensive imported berries and exotic leafy greens. 

See how easily drumstick leaves combine with scrambled eggs to make a delicious meal in a hurry.

The egg scramble I am sharing today is made using garlic chives and rucola greens from my garden. It could be simple coriander greens or spring onions or even a generous amount of ginger and garlic, some freshly milled pepper to make the mundane egg scramble more nutrition efficient.

And once you pair this breakfast with a millet bread it become better, a glass of grapefruit or citrus juice makes it even better. If not juice it could be this amla infused buttermilk.

Recipe of the creamy and herb loaded egg scramble..

ingredients 
(2 servings)

4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped garlic chives
1/4 cup rucola leaves  (or use coriander greens or spring onions)
1 tbsp or a bit more roughly chopped mature cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp milk (you can use butter too)

procedure..

Pour the milk in the pan first, break the eggs directly in the pan and dump in all the ingredients together. Whisk a little, lower the heat to minimum and cover for a minute or so.

Uncover, scramble the soft set eggs till it reaches the desired consistency. Serve immediately.

I used to cook my egg scramble in milk during my research days when I would teach in the early morning hours and then would reach the lab around 9 AM. I would buy milk, eggs, bread and fruits for on the way and cook a quick egg scramble with bread as soon as I reached my lab. Since this was cooked over a simple heater with minimal ingredients and utensils I used to add milk to eggs and quickly stir to scramble them. That became my favourite method to scramble eggs later. My sandwiches were famous among my lab mates by the way.

Recipe of the jowar (sorghum pita)..

ingredients..
(makes 2 large round pita breads, enough for 2-3 servings)

a cup of jowar flour
1/2 cup of yogurt
pinch of soda bicarb
pinch of salt
a cup of hot water

procedure

Add salt and soda bi carb to the flour and whisk to mix. Pour the yogurt and whisk again as it becomes a crumbly dough.

Now add hot water slowly and knead a soft dough while massaging the dough in quick movements.

Heat a griddle, divide the dough into two parts, roll out a flat bread between 2 sheets of cling film or pat a thick roti using your palms. I do just that.

Slap the roti on hot griddle and let it cook both sides. The roti (flat bread) would come off the hot griddle as soon as it cooks, if it keeps sticking to the pan it means it is yet to cook. Give it come more time and it comes off.

Bake it some more over open flame and cut into wedges of halves as per convenience.

Alternatively, the rolled out roti can be baked in the oven till done. On the griddle it takes hardly 5 minutes but in the oven it will take about 25 minutes to bake.

Any leftover jowar roti or pita bread can be crumbled with ghee and jaggery to make instant dessert, the peasant way.

High time we started eating the peasant way.

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